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I have recently become very interested in the HVAC Field, and I am currently in the process of researching schools that I might attend. Unfortunately, there are no schools offering HVAC close enough to my residence, so I am forced to turn to a distance program.

Now my question to you wise gentlemen (and the rare ladies) of this forum is, will I even be respected in the field if I did take a distance course? Will it be a hardship to find a job with a distance program on my resume (and no experience other then my schooling)? Or will I be wasting my time and money on a distance program?

After a few posts I have read, it seems distance schooling is some what looked down upon in this profession. But heck, I have no other choice!

And if I may venture further, what might the starting pay be for me if I did graduate from a distance HVAC program?

Any help and advice offered would be much obliged. Thanks in advance for your time.

dont think i am a dick but would you rather go to a dentist that got his degree from a correspondence course or one that went to an actual college? if i were you i would try for an apprenticeship somewhere

I don’t always drink beer, but when I do I prefer Dos-Equis. I am the most interesting man in the world. Stay thirsty my friends.

I both understand, and share your opposition to the above dentist analogy, and I surly do not expect to jump right in the field after graduating, and not be involved in heavy apprentice work. On the contrary, above anything else, an apprenticeship is what I would want and expect. I am just curious as to to if I will even get that chance to do apprentice work, or would my schooling be in vain? I'm just trying to make something of my life at the moment, and with little money in my pocket and scant colleges available, this distance program is my only choice.

HVAC close enough to my residence, so I am forced to turn to a distance program.

online willn't be as good as a hvac school but it is a start it will help you out.Most good Hvac companies out their will not take you at first you will have to go learn in the field first & just work hard.

Tell us all about yourself. Then we will be best equiped to give advice.

But without knowing a thing about you ... let me just say this:

1) most who enter this industry stay forEVER!!! This industry DOES NOT adapt itself to you! YOU adapt yourself to suit this industry!!!

2) most who do good in this industry have a natural mechanical/ electrical ability.

3) most who enter have a passion for fixing "garbage". Few here work on scientific stuff like lab equipment. Few here service NASA nor sophisticated facilities. We simply work on the run of the mill everyday stuff others have made repairs to over the years.
Of course, I am exagerating to some degree. Part of what we get to play with is actually fair to moderate stuff.

But if we didnt have a clue how it was supposed to work, if it was put together correctly and serviced properly .... then we would never get it back online. Cause there is a fair chance the last guy who touched it ... bless his pea pickin' soul, he did about as much harm as he did good! (no joke).

4) half of us attended formal training for two years or there abouts.

5) less than half of us had a Mentor who showed us the ropes. We aprenticed under them. For years.

6) the best of the best guys on this forum are regularly reminding people to keep it simple. And whenever they post a tough dog problem here for the rest of us to answer; they are asking for the simplest reply possible.
Bottom line is this: keep it simple. Rest on the basics. Always go back to square one.

Learn this trade correctly from the very begining. Challenge what you are told, what you see and what you hear from people.
Prove it for yourself.

There are a handful of folks here who I take their advice without arguement. If I find I disagree, I look into it deeper.
Then also, there are some here who I would question their answers even if I had no previous opinion. Just simply because they never got a good hold of their trade skills and they tend to be flippant about most of what they speak about.

I am very opinionated, but I can prove most of what I advise someone on. And it will usually be correct and safe.
And when I find a better way to do anything, I am willing to alter my opinion, method, style, thought pattern in order to improve the way I do things!
You wont find many Irishmen who will do that!

One way to enter the trade without formal schooling:
The right small shop may take you on, if you impress the owner of someone there. And they will take yo under their wing and train you, the slow way, the hard way.

Another way:
Go enter a union shop. If accepted, they will send to you school and you will serve an aprenticeship for many years.

Enter the Service:
(gulp!)

Find an old fart who want to retire in a few years. Tell him you want him to train you to take over his shop. In the right scenario, you will both be winners!

Be willing to relocate if you are set on entering this trade! Depending upon where you live, there may not be the right fix for you.

Now you just need to figure out which facet of the industry you wish to serve in.

"Sylvan, welcome to the forum community.
Tell us all about yourself. Then we will be best equiped to give advice."

Thank you. I’m glad to belong to the most helpful site on the web that I have found for researching the HVAC field =) About me, huh? Well R12rules, I am currently a resident of Alaska, and my husband and I will soon be moving back to Florida (his home state, mine being Texas) because he wants to attend law school (there aren't any Law schools in Alaska so we are hightailing it back south). For several months I have contemplated on what profession I want to join, I have just about considered all of them. Recently my husband suggested “Your good with your hands and fixing things, and you prefer labor work over office jobs, why don’t you do computer repair or HVAC?”. Since then I have been looking into the HVAC field.

I am also trying to keep in mind my money situation. My husband wants to go to law school, which means $8,000+ a semester (OUCH!) For three years! Of course, we will get loans and try for grants, but I will have to play the typical “male role” for those three years, and support him and I, By My Self. I would hate to put my time and money into HVAC school, and when I am ready for an apprentice position, not get paid enough to keep my husband and I alive =P

Of course, if the apprentice position (or schooling, which seems to be the case w/ the Union) was not full time, I could get a second or even a third job. I have absolutely no problem with hard work, and years of it, that’s exactly what I want! I’m just afraid that I wont get that chance, one reason, because of my school. And two, my gender (this seems to be a primarily male field).

“Another way:
Go enter a union shop. If accepted, they will send to you school and you will serve an apprenticeship for many years.”
-I’m still not exactly sure what this Union is. I have only heard of it a handful of times, but it sounds nice if they would send me to school. I did read something about Union and apprenticeship on http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=68792 . Tinner73 ‘s remark about “pre-apprenticeship/school..first 5 weeks..$35/week...$1/hr” Kinda gave me the willy’s =P $1 an hour in 1861 sounds good, but its 2005 =) Again, it would be TOTALLY fine if the hours were good enough to where I can get a second job.
“You wont find many Irishmen who will do that!”
-Ha Ha Ha =P
“Enter the Service:
(gulp!) “
-I would, but I have asthma and wouldn’t be able to pass an physical exam =(
“Find an old fart who want to retire in a few years. Tell him you want him to train you to take over his shop”
-Plenty of those in S. Florida!! (Where I am headed soon)

“Now you just need to figure out which facet of the industry you wish to serve in.”
- what is best to start in, residential?